[2013] EWCA Crim 465

Where a defendant with a low IQ and language level failed to give evidence at his trial for murder, the judge was entitled to conclude that an adverse inference direction was appropriate and that the circumstances did not come within the exception provided by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 s.35(1)(b). He had been entitled to look beyond the expert material, and to consider the defendant's behaviour after the event, the assistance provided by a registered intermediary to the defendant during the trial and the approach of a fair-minded jury to his difficulties.

CA (Crim Div) (Treacy LJ, Saunders J, Judge Milford QC)

17/04/2013